N,N'-Bis[2-chloro-5-(trifluoro-meth-yl)benzyl-idene]ethane-1,2-diamine

The mol-ecule of the title Schiff base compound, C(18)H(12)Cl(2)F(6)N(2), adopts an E configuration with respect to the azomethine C=N bond. Intra-molecular C-H⋯F (× 2) and C-H⋯Cl (× 2) hydrogen bonds generate S(5) ring motifs. The imino group is coplanar with the aromatic ring. Within the mol-ecule, the planar units are parallel, but extend in opposite directions from the methyl-ene bridge, as indicated by the dihedral angle between the two benzene rings of 3.74 (6)°. The inter-esting features of the crystal structure are weak inter-molecular Cl⋯N and F⋯F inter-actions, with distances of 2.9192 (11) and 3.2714 (10) Å, respectively, which are shorter than the sum of the van der Waals radii of the relevent atoms. These inter-actions link neighbouring mol-ecules into dimers which are stacked down the b axis.